Expand Medicaid, save Tennessee towns | Opinion

Two more Tennessee hospitals will close in December, bringing the total number of hospitals lost since 2010 to 11. For its size, Tennessee has lost more hospitals than any other state in the nation.

My heart goes out to those communities, because, as the mayor of a town where our hospital recently closed, I truly understand what the loss of a hospital means.

We lost McKenzie Regional Hospital in September. Now, in the event of a heart attack or serious accident, lifesaving emergency care is farther away. That can mean the difference between life and death. The closest hospital that delivers babies is in Jackson, an hour away.

The impact is not just on health. Health care professionals who want to stay and serve their communities find themselves forced to look elsewhere for jobs. The community loses a major payroll, which affects local businesses.

Loss of a community’s hospital dims prospects for recruiting new employers. Health care spending that used to stay in the local economy now drains away. We worry that there will be fewer opportunities for our young people, and that our community may never be quite the same.

People in communities across the state understand too well what the rural health crisis means. Our legislators express sympathy and concern, and many are no doubt sincere. However, as of today, we have not seen strong evidence of solutions which can fix this problem from our legislature.

The legislature blocked Gov. Bill Haslam’s proposed Insure Tennessee plan, which would have used federal Medicaid funding to expand coverage to uninsured working families. According to the Governor’s estimates, $3.8 million would have flowed every day into communities across the state to pay for care, and support the local health care infrastructure.

With hospitals pledging to pay the state’s share of the program’s costs, Gov. Haslam explained that it would have cost state taxpayers nothing.

Without Insure Tennessee or some other form of Medicaid expansion, too many patients remain uninsured, adding to hospitals’ bad debt burdens. Researchers have found that in the 34 states that have expanded Medicaid, rural hospitals are six times less likely to close for financial reasons.

Yet our legislature continues to block the use of Medicaid funds that we desperately need.

If Tennessee had expanded Medicaid, I am convinced that McKenzie Regional Hospital would not have closed. No more rural hospitals should close for lack of funding that Medicaid expansion would provide. No more communities should experience the loss that McKenzie has experienced.

We need our legislators to come together and back up their words of sympathy with real action.

Please approve Gov. Haslam’s Insure Tennessee plan. If not, then come up with a plan of your own to let our rural communities have the benefit of the federal Medicaid expansion funds that we desperately need.